Highlander

Highlander (1986)

Director: Russel Mulcahy
Cast: Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown, Roxanne Hart, Beatie Edney, Alan North
Writers: Gregory Widen, Peter Bellwood, Larry Ferguson

Synopsis:
Highlander begins in 16th century Scotland where a young clansman named Connor MacLeod (Lambert) suffers a fatal wound in battle against an evil warrior called Kurgan (Brown). When it's discovered that he not only survives the wound but has suffered no ill effects from it, his kinsmen banish him from the village because they believe him to be possessed by the devil. In truth, MacLeod is part of a group of immortal warriors, who meet each other in one-on-one combat to fight for the "Prize." MacLeod soon meets the Egyptian Juan Sanachez Villa-Lobos Ramirez, who trains him to fight the Kurgan and to eventually win the Prize when an event called the "Gathering" takes place. The rest of the story takes place hundreds of years later in 1985, when the immortals are drawn to New York City for the Gathering. MacLeod, who now goes by the name of Russel Nash, faces off against the Kurgan once more to finally determine who will win the Prize. The activities of the immortals have not gone noticed by the NYPD, particularly a forensic scientist named Brenda Wyatt (Hart), who takes a particular interest in Nash.

First Impressions:
I first saw this movie sometime in the early 90s, when I was in high school. At the time, I thought this was one of the most badass movies around. To my underdeveloped teenage brain, the concept was pure brilliance. The idea of immortal warriors running around New York chopping each other's heads off was the pinnacle of movie making to me, at the time. It's been more than two decades since I've seen this movie and I'm excited to see if it still holds up or not.

Story: -

"You cannot die, MacLeod, accept it."

The premise for Highlander, I think, is a pretty original one and the way the movie presents it was done fairly well. The story moves seamlessly in between events that take place in MacLeod's past and those that are currently happening. The flashbacks serve to provide us with background on the story, mostly to do with MacLeod himself, but it also provides us with some context for the other players including Ramirez and Kurgen. The way Mulcahy moves back and forth in between the past and the present works well and isn't distracting. The only thing that bugs me a bit is the fact that the flashbacks focus primarily on MacLeod's days in 16th century Scotland and while the movie does show a few snippets of his life in other eras (such as WWII and 18th century America), a little bit more of his life throughout the ages would have been neat to see.

The major issue I have with the story, is one that's pretty common to action movies of this era, and that is the tacked on romantic subplot. Now, I'm not opposed to a decent romance in a movie, IF it makes sense to the story. However, as was often the case in the 80s, lead female roles were usually given some loose connection to the events of the movie (in this case a forensic investigator) but are really only there to fall in love with the hero and to be put in peril during the climax. I also find it fairly amusing that these women always seem to find the oddest times to express their feelings for the hero. In Highlander, Wyatt suddenly realizes she loves Nash after he has her stab him in the abdomen to prove to her that he's immortal (nothing gets the ladies hotter than a puncture wound in the gut, I guess).

Acting:
Whoo boy. The acting...What can I say about the acting in this movie? After 20+ years, I wasn't quite sure what to expect here and while the performances weren't as bad as I remembered, they still weren't great. I think the main issue here isn't so much that the acting is bad. It's that the characters are terribly miscast. Connor MacLeod, the Scottish Highlander, is played by Lambert, while born in the U.S. was raised in Switzerland and had a thick french accent. Meanwhile, an actual Scotsman (Connery) was cast to play the Egyptian Ramirez and even though Sean is a great actor, accents are not his forte. Hart does okay with what she's given but as noted above she doesn't get to do a whole lot.

The one highlight of the cast, in my opinion, is Clancy Brown's turn as the villain Kurgan. Brown has made a career out of playing the heavy and he does it here to perfection. Brown plays him as a man that is wholly evil and gives him an extremely unsettling presence, like any good villain should have. As the movie progresses, Brown's performance starts to get more and more hammier, but it works with the character (anybody who's murdered there way across the centuries is bound to go a little loopy over time).

Visuals/SFX:
The SFX in this movie are rough, even for the 80s, and are definitely B-movie quality. In my previous review of Ladyhawke, I gave Richard Donner props for using dark lighting and quick cuts to make up for poor visual effects. However, with all of the glowing electrical effects in this film, it would have been tough for Mulcahy to be as subtle with his effects work. Instead, the film has to resort to hand-drawn lightning bolts and electrical discharges to achieve the desired effects. Because of that, the effects really date the movie.

Music/Score:
The score for this movie, done by Michael Kamen, is unremarkable. Most of the score is used during the flashback scenes in Scotland and while it certainly doesn't take you out of the story, it's not particularly memorable either. The music for the scenes in the 1980s was done by Queen and there are a few decent tracks here, with Princes of the Universe being my personal favorite. One thing I did find kind of amusing, though, is that every radio in New York in 1985 was apparently always tuned to the all-Queen, all-the time station because there's no other contemporary music to be found. I know that securing Queen probably took a large chunk of the movie's music budget but, for Pete's sake they could have gotten a couple of other artists in there just to mix things up a bit. I actually found that took me out of the movie a bit.

Action:
The major issue I had with this movie was the action. The entire premise of the film is based on men hacking away at each other with swords but the fight choreography seemed kind of half-assed. I mean, these are men who have literally spent centuries honing their craft but in the fight scenes they look more like talented novices, at best. I think, had Mulcahy decided to focus a bit more on the fight sequences and a little less on the explosions and drawn-in electrical effects, the movie might have aged better.

Final Verdict:
It's definitely not the movie I thought so highly of as a teenager, but its not the worst thing I've ever seen. I still enjoyed it but the enjoyment was certainly tempered by some noticeable flaws.